After taking a look at Air Hogs' Batman v Superman Batmobile, I was looking forward to seeing what the static models from the movie would look like. Jada's hit the market first with a prepainted diecast kit sold under their "Metals" banner. It's a very simple kit - 25 parts and no paint or glue required - but simple does not mean bad. On the contrary, the finished model is really quite good.

Part of the reason is that the "25 parts" only refers to what you have to do to go from box to finished model (a process that took about 15 minutes). The tires are already mounted on the wheels, the gun turret and canopies are already attached to the body, and the interior is already finished and installed. Really all that's left is mounting the wheels on the axles, sandwich those between the body and chassis, and add a few detail bits.

The other reason is because Jada used a smart combination of metal and plastic components. They did a similar construction with their Halo Warthog a few years back, which remains an outstanding piece. By using diecast for the main body and wings and plastic for the smaller fins, vents, fenders, and other details, you end up with a hefty item that nonetheless has some really nice detail work. The correct split canopies and posable turret help add to the look.

It would be easy to go crazy with paint and detail on this, but I wanted to build it straight and see how it turned out. Happily, Jada pulled it off admirably. The only thing I wasn't pleased by was the included screwdriver, which was too flimsy to torque down all the screws. I was nearly finished before it gave up, though, and anyone with even a semi-functional tool box will be able to complete the assembly. I'm now 2 for 2 being very happy with the BvS Batmobiles, now to check out the Moebius kit!